Featured Travelers who willingly lend their footwear, time and stories

Dispatch, the magazine that brings you travel, adventure and advocacy stories recently launched its Travel X Thursdays series intended to provide an avenue for travelers, Filipino and foreign alike, to get in touch with one another and share their travel adventures, mishaps and whatnot.

The pilot for the Travel X Thursdays series entitled IMPRINTS is an art installation of the symbolic gear every traveler never leaves without—his footwear. Imprints is all about a traveler’s soul on sole: the places he go; the moments, his passions and the experiences herewith. The idea is that each traveler, wherever he may go, he opens his senses to every bit of sight, flavor and learning, and embraces it as much as he leaves a part of himself to the places and people he has encountered—shaping new perspectives, leaving indelible marks.

Guests scanning through the art installationMonette Fernandez of fliptravels.com shares her tales of traveling solo

Dispatch’s roster of adventure and independent travelers include Romi Garduce, Pinoy Mt. Everest Summiteer; Team Travel Factor, a leading adventure travel tour group; Luke Landrigan, professional surfer who started traveling at age 14; Jetro Rafael, seasoned backpacker and the man behind the Van Gogh is Bipolar fame; Pinoy Travel Bloggers Ferdz Decena of ironwulf.net, Nina Fuentes of justwandering.org and Monette Fernandez and Ron Cruz of fliptravels.com among others.

The Imprints exhibit was designed and installed by Pilipinas Street Plan’s Whoop, Nemo and Rest. There were simple elements in the exhibit: a travel journal with twigs or branches coming out of it. The concept was simple but slightly surreal, with the journal representing the aspirations, dream destinations and travel adventures that dwells in every person who’s struck with wanderlust, it all eventually came into life with the traveler’s footwear displayed as a representation of them reaching these aspirations, that dream destination. Along with the footwear were excerpts from the travelers answering one basic question: WHY TRAVEL?

Whoop and Nemo of Pilipinas Street Plan (PSP), the men behind the artsy chaosTravelers of the world, unite!

The night was filled with exchanges of stories among the bunch of travelers and strangers who came in spite of the slightly rainy weather. Some of the featured travelers even shared their own travel tales and misadventures. The weather may not be too cooperative during the event (moody spit of rain showers coupled with humid air) but the guests surely did have fun with the bucket-down of giftpacks and drinks from our generous sponsors.  A quirky stop motion video was screened to cap off the night.

Lucky girls got giftpacks from Beach Hut and SanukFun trio who joined the games and won gift certificates from Sole ProjectAll eyes on the stop motion video of the featured travelers

Imprints is just one of the many legs of the Dispatch Travel X Thursdays series. Be sure to check out our facebook page (Dispatch Media) and this blogsite for updates on the coming legs. Until next time!

Dispatch Travel X Thursdays: Imprints is co-presented by R.O.X with the support of Sanuk, Olukai, Fitflop, 100 Plus, Tanduay Ice, Coors Light, Virgin Cola, Beach Hut, Sole Project, Paradise Mango Rum, Today x Future, JanSport, Columbia Sportswear and Brushstrokes Creatives. Special thanks to Pinoy Travel Bloggers for all the support.

This is the Philippines is a video created by a foreign exchange student, Gregoire Thiebault, from his trips in the country during his three-month stay.

This video is a patchwork of shots I have taken in the Philippines from January to April 2011.

I went there to study as an exchange student in Manilla. My stay there allows me to travel in many places like Bohol, Batad, Baguio, Batad, Angeles, the Pinatubo Volcano, Batangas, Cebu and more…

I’ll miss the Philippines, the curiosity of their inhabitants, the beauty of the landscapes and my crazy life there.

If you want to see more of Thiebault’s photos of the Philippines and other Asian countries, you may check his flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bazart/

Words and Photos by Edgar Alan Zeta-Yap

Vibrant colors from the dancers filled the streets during the Kadayawan Festival

Last month, Davao City welcomed its visitors at the airport with free drinks called ‘Davao Punch’—a trademark concoction of guava, pomelo and calamansi created exclusively for the festivity. It was a great taste of things to come for the yearly spectacle that is Kadayawan, and a thoughtful prelude to the warm hospitality of the Dabawenyos that continued throughout the wonderful festival weekend.

The ‘king of fruits’ paraded at the Pamulak Kadayawan

Every August, the Kadayawan sa Dabaw festival colors the streets of Davao City in southern Philippines with the revelry of street dancing, float parades, pageants and events showcasing the cultural diversity and natural bounty of the region. Unlike most Philippine festivals which are religious in nature, the Kadayawan, rooted in the friendly Mandaya greeting, madayaw, is foremost a cultural affair for all, where Christians, Muslims and various tribal groups unify in thanksgiving for bountiful harvests, peace and prosperity, as well as to celebrate the beauty of the region’s natural resources. The ten ethnic groups of Davao are Ata Manobo, Ubo Manobo, K’lata, Tagabawa, Matigsalog, Maranao, Maguindanao, Tausug, Sama and Kalagan. Read the rest of this entry »

Bird watchers, conservationists and nature enthusiasts from all over the country and abroad are expected to flock to Silliman University campus in Dumaguete City on September 23 and 24 for the 7th annual Philippine Bird Festival, the country’s largest celebration of avifaunal diversity and bird lore awareness.

Themed Langgam Paluparon, Lasang Palambu-on (Birds in the Wild Help Forests Thrive), this year’s bird festival aims to drum public support for the conservation and awareness of the forests of Negros and the protection of fruit-eating species like hornbills, which play a key role in propagating forest tree species.

“Birds are the best caretakers of our wilderness areas by helping propagate plants and trees in the forests and other habitats. Different birds have different functions; some pollinate, some fertilize. Others controls pests,” says Anna M. Gonzales, president of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP), the country’s leading bird watching society and organizer of the Philippine Bird Festival. “We hope that higher awareness of birds’ roles in their natural habitats can make people stop buying from the illegal wildlife trade, from hunting of key species and reverse the destruction of forests and other wild habitats.”

The forests of Negros are a haven for endemic birds like Visayan Hornbills, Negros Bleeding-Heart Pigeons, Negros Striped-Babblers and Visayan Flowerpeckers. These species have evolved to fill unique niches in the forest ecosystem and are among the specialized birds found in the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park, which is being promoted as an international birdwatching destination by the Department of Tourism and the Recreational Outdoor Exchange. The nature area derives its name from the numerous species of swifts (balinsasayao) which includes the endemic Philippine Needletail.

The Seventh Philippine Bird Festival will cap the observance of the 2011 National Tourism Week and be highlighted by cultural festivities by local troupes. The festival will be held in Silliman University campus and is open to the public free of charge.

“The Festival and our venue serve as our tribute to Filipino biologists Dr. Dioscoro S. Rabor, Dr. Angel C. Alcala, Prof. Rodolfo B. Gonzales, Prof. Alfredo Y. Reyes for blazing the trail in naturalscience and conservation,” said WBCP’s Gonzales.

It will include an exhibit of bird photos, an appreciation of the contributions of ornithologist Dr. Dioscoro Rabor, bird-watching and bird photography lectures, and a conservation forum on the status of Negros biodiversity. Organizers said an activity center featuring bird-themed games and quiz shows, arts and crafts, story telling and face painting will be on tap for the young and the young at heart.

The Philippine Bird Festival was launched by local bird watching hobbyists in 2005 and more recently brought the message of birdlife awareness and conservation to the country’s important bird areas like Balanga City in Bataan and Davao City.

Similar events take place throughout the world each year, attracting large numbers of bird watchers, scientists and nature enthusiasts. In Asia, some of the well-known events are the annual Taipei International Birdwatching Fair, the Thailand Birdwatching Fair and the Asian Bird Fair, which will take place in Tainan, Taiwan in October 2011.

The 7th Philippine Bird Festival will be jointly-hosted by Silliman University, the Negros Oriental provincial government, the City of Dumaguete and Negros-based conservation group PENAGMANNAKI. This year’s festival is also sponsored by Team Energy Foundation, the Department of Tourism, C.O.R.E (the advocacy arm of the Primer Group of Companies) and C. K. Lu Enterprises.

Foreign organizations such as the Chinese Wild Bird Federation, Bird Conservation Society of Thailand, Malaysian Nature Society, Nature Society of Singapore and local conservation organizations Negros Forest & Ecological Foundation, Katala Foundation, Philippine Biodiversity Foundation also made known their support for the Dumaguete event.